Author Archive - Johnliz Ortiz (Anti-Spam Research Engineer)

We noted a while back that Apple-related scams tend to grow when rumors of new Apple devices are in the news. With the launch of the iPhone 6 expected sometime in September, we expected to see some scams tied to leaks surrounding the latest Apple product. As it turns out, that is exactly what happened.

Some journalists covering Apple reported last week that they had received emails with a fake “the wait is over” announcement for the iPhone 6. We can confirm that such emails were sent out, as our own sources got a few themselves:

Figure 1. Sample spam message

Users who don’t keep track of Apple rumors or the iPhone release schedule might be caught out by this email, as it uses language that wouldn’t be out of place in a real Apple announcement. However, two things are worth noting: a July release would not fit the recent Apple release calendar (both the iPhone 5 and 5S were released in September), and the design in the email does not match recent mockups released by Apple rumor sites.

As the release date of the iPhone 6 (and perhaps the iWatch) draws closer, we can expect to see more scams and attacks that use these (rumored) Apple products as bait. We ask users to be careful of these “announcement” emails, as they are fertile ground for phishing and other threats.

We block the spam message spotted in this particular attack, and block access to all websites related to this threat.